Conditioning Young Horses

Article

Young horses in training are vulnerable to a wide variety of problems--everything from respiratory disease to training injuries. These horses are often taken off the farm where they grew up, transported to training facilities where they...
Read More

Article

Although training might make your yearling look like a bodybuilder, that physique doesn't guarantee athletic prowess. Evolutionary factors--not early speed or exercise programs--determine the amount of fast-twitch muscle horses have as adults....
Read More

Article

Trainers, owners, and researchers have long pondered the effects of a large heart (one that is naturally occurring and not a result of disease), and have even attempted to use heart size as a predictor of athletic ability....
Read More

Article

Musculoskeletal injury is the main cause of wastage in Thoroughbred racehorses worldwide, with nearly 30% of all fractures being pelvic and tibial stress fractures. California studies in the late 1990s suggested fast work increased the risk of...
Read More

Article

Ponying is leading one horse from another. The pony horse is the one you are riding; the ponied horse is the one being led. Ponying is a good way to exercise a horse you don't have time to ride or one that can't be ridden. If you need to keep tw...
Read More

Article

Training young horses for jumping at six months of age is ineffective and unnecessary, according to a Dutch study published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research. The effect of specific jump training on young horses' jumping...
Read More

Article

It is widely believed that exercise and limb-loading in foals help joint cartilage functionally adapt to the rigors of athletic activity. In 2005, Dutch researchers set out to find out if they could verify the concept of functional adaptation of...
Read More

Article

The Dec. 5 open forum discussion of pre-purchase exams at sales covered several topics critical to consignors, buyers, and veterinarians at the 50th anniversary meeting of the American Association of Equine Practitioners in Denver, Colo. A task...
Read More

Article

I think we have seen over and over again that it is beneficial to stress the bones of a horse when they are most adaptive. This optimal adaptive period would seem to be when the horse is still in an active growth stage. We have all seen man...
Read More

Article

During intensive training, young racehorses experience a thickening in the layers of bone under the cartilage of joints. These layers, called subchondral (located nearer the surface) and cancellous, become harder and better able to handle the...
Read More

Article

It sounds completely backwards, the idea that you might actually increase health risks by postponing training and competition until a horse is four or older. It goes against the ages-old and widely held belief that you cause damage by initiating...
Read More

Article

“Juvenile bowed tendons, or ‘baby bows,’ are not uncommon in yearlings and weanlings,” said Johanna Reimer, VMD, Dipl. ACVIM, Dipl. ACVC (cardiology), of the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., at the 2002 American Association of...
Read More

Article

Beneath the smooth surface of articular cartilage, subchondral bone gives structural support to joints. Normally, newborn foals have a lot of water in this layer, which is slowly replaced by calcium and collagen as the foal weights his joints....
Read More

Article

I am being told by "professionals" that warmblood foals should be turned out a limited amount of time. The "professionals" were a farrier (who shoes Olympic-quality horses) and a respected veterinarian. Their reasoning is that warmblood babies grow...
Read More

Article

Dr. E.E. Watson was a veterinarian of some repute for many years in the Midwest during the middle decades of the 20th Century. He not only treated racehorses, but he bred them, owned them, and trained them. One year in the late 1950s, he had a...
Read More

Article

When do I start my foal on an exercise program? My champion show jumper just gave birth to a foal a couple of weeks ago, and I want to give him every advantage possible since I have plans for him to be m...
Read More

Article

As spring moves into summer, the primary focus of activity on many breeding farms is preparation of yearlings for sale. There isn't much scientific research on exercising horses at that young age, yet many farms are using forced exercise to make...
Read More

Article

Radiographs of a yearling’s legs offer a unique glance into the horse’s athletic future, according to Albert Kane, DVM, MPVM, PhD, Post-Doctoral Fellow in Biomedical Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Colorado State University...
Read More

Article

Everyone involved in the racing industry knows that one of the major problems in training horses is keeping them free from injury. Bones, joints, tendons, and ligaments are placed under considerable strain during training and racing,...
Read More

Article

Keeping a foal in a stall around-the-clock might keep his coat shiny and his body free of nicks and bumps from roughhousing with peers in the pasture, but in the long run, that could cause him serious problems as an active adult. P. René van...
Read More

Article

Article

Yearlings are a funny bunch. Gangly and half-grown they're at that gawky stage where hips are higher than withers and where legs seem all knobby knees and hocks. Sometimes it seems that designing a correct feeding program for them is almost as...
Read More

How-To Video

Ask TheHorse Audio

Q. I have a fine-boned 3-year-old Welsh/Quarter Horse cross that I would like to start in regular work and training, but I'm reluctant for fear of placing too much stress on her young spine. When is it safe to start and ride her on a regular basis?